Whiplash: Rear End Collisions
Each year more than 1 million individuals in the US suffer from a whiplash injury and of those 1 million only 50% will recover within 3-6 months, the other half will still have a range of symptoms lasting 1 -2 years longer . 1,2,3
Of the 50% that doesn’t recover more than 30% of them will have moderate levels of pain and over 10% of them will have severe pain, often showing up in the form of headaches, migraines, and neck pain.
One thing that is often overlooked when it comes to whiplash injuries is our ability as a driver or passenger to decrease our risk of injury. In the video below Dr. Jake goes over the three different phases of a whiplash injury, the areas that are most commonly affected and how you can position yourself to help decrease your risk of experiencing a more severe whiplash injury.
References
Sterling M , Jull G , Kenardy J . Physical and psychological factors
maintain long-term predictive capacity post-whiplash injury . Pain
2006 ; 122 : 102 – 8 .
Sterling M , Hendrikz J , Kenardy J . Compensation claim lodgment
and health outcome developmental trajectories following whiplash
injury: a prospective study . Pain 2010 ; 150 : 22 – 8 .
Carroll L , Holm L , Hogg-Johnson S , et al. Course and prognostic
factors for neck pain in whiplash-associated disorders (WAD):
results of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000–2010 Task Force on
Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders . Spine 2008 ; 33 : S83 – 92 .